It's a relatively new problem, said Buckwheat Donohue, executive director of the city's convention and visitor's bureau.

"Sometimes, when I send texts out to people," he said, "I might have to send the text six or seven times over a 30-minute period before somebody gets it, and it's just easier to go to a trunk line if you're trying to call a cellphone."

The town's cellular service provider plans to upgrade to a 4G network that's able to transmit more data, faster. That should solve most of the problem.

Donohue noted that the nearby community of Haines has similar problems, but that community has less cellular capacity than Skagway.